1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tossing games where a projectile is tossed by a player toward a target. More particularly, the present invention is related to the structure of the projectile and how that structure effects the flight characteristics of the projectile when tossed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the years, countless people have improvised many different games and activities that can be played at the beach. Many of these games and activities use materials that are found naturally at the beach. For example, people commonly build sand castles with the sand available at the beach. Many other games and activities have been developed that are played with shells, stones, driftwood and other materials that are commonly found along an ocean beach.
In many different improvised games, seashells are used as projectiles and are tossed at a variety of improvised targets. Along the beaches of the north eastern portion of the United States, clam shells are one of the most common prevalent shells found. Clam shells are generally semicircular in shape and can have any length up to eight inches.
In nature, no two seashells are exactly the same. Rather, different shells have different shapes, different sizes, different surface textures and different centers of gravity. As a result, when tossed, no two seashells will fly through the air with the same aerodynamic characteristics. Consequently, when a game is improvised so that seashells are tossed at an object, often the person with the best seashells wins. The game therefore becomes a test of who has the best luck in finding seashells rather than a game of skill.
Even if players in an improvised shell tossing game have generally equivalent shells, that condition changes during the course of the game. If one shell is tossed and strikes another shell, one or both of the shells often break. As a result, the shells no longer have the same shape, mass, center of gravity or aerodynamic properties that they once had. Accordingly, the shells do not fly consistently during the course of the game. Furthermore, when shells are broken due to impact with another shell, shards of the shell break away. The shards often have pointed tips and sharpened edges. Since the game is being played on the beach, the players commonly have bare feet. The shards of broken shells therefore represent a physical danger to both the players and people who may walk across the beach when the game is over.
In a shell tossing game, the availability of shells and the size of the shells found effects the choice of targets used in the game. For instance, if players are tossing shells into a bucket with a five inch diameter open top, obviously shells with lengths longer than five inches would not be used because they would not fit into the target. Similarly, if a target was positioned far away from the tossing point and a strong wind was blowing across the beach, shells with a large mass would be much more preferable than would be lighter shells.
The variability in shell size, shape, flight characteristics and availability make it impractical to standardize any one shell tossing game or maintain statistical records for any one tossing game. Accordingly, shell tossing tournaments and competitions played on different days at different beaches would be problematic.
A need therefore exists for a way to standardize the tossing game so that the game can be consistently played regardless to the location of the beach or the availability of indigenous shells. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.